Zidane is 'exploiting' Toni Kroos -- but does he have any choice?

Toni Kroos never rests. Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane ‘exploits’ the German midfielder to the maximum and is in danger of repeating the mistake made by one of his predecessors, Carlo Ancelotti, who ‘abused’ Kroos so much in the 2014-15 campaign that he wore him out and his team suffered. 

Surely Zidane would like to rotate Kroos more, but he’s not in a position where he can. It’s almost impossible with the injury to Casemiro (and Luka Modric), who seems to have been delayed in his recovery. Kroos has to play everything, because without the Brazilian, there’s no natural replacement. Zidane said weeks ago that it was an error to loan Marcos Llorente to Alaves, Madrid’s next rival (although he won’t play this weekend due to the ‘fear clause’). 

Llorente, Casemiro’s natural substitute, would have given Kroos a break. Instead he’s had to occupy Casemiro’s position. And the result is that he’s played 13 of 14 games this season, 12 of them as a starter. On top of that he’s played three of Germany’s four games. In total, 17 games and 1,375 minutes already this season. 

Keeping in mind the precedents, the risk is that Kroos’ lack of a break could come back to haunt him later on in the season. But the problem is that until Casemiro’s back, Zidane doesn’t have anyone else…